The present invention relates to the installation of an elevator door hatchway, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for installing the parts of an elevator door hatchway.
The Related Art
Elevator installation normally includes the setting up of the carriage (which is the elevator car), the elevator shaft, the rails and the door hatchway opening. Normally, the hatchway opening installation process is performed by using what is commonly referred to in the industry as a “running platform.” This is the carriage without the decorative cab portion. In order to install the components of the hatchway opening, the workmen must be inside the shaft area by standing within the previously installed running platform. The steel square along with the door buck, which is the frame outside of the hatchway entrance, is hoisted inside the shaft area only when the carriage is at the same level with the door opening. Without the carriage, workmen installing the hatchway opening would have to attempt to work within an open shaft way at great peril.
The use of the carriage causes a delay in the total elevator installation process because the “running platform” must be “borrowed” from the remainder of the job. Workmen, from other parts of the elevator construction job site, who would need the same running platform for other installation processes, i.e. shaft work, cab decoration etc., normally pause for two week periods, if not more, for each door hatchway installation while the hatchway opening work is completed. A typical high-rise building can have 400 to 800 openings for which the delays in the installation procedure result in extra construction costs and longer total building completion times.